From all indications so far Butler is a stiff who was buried on the San Antonio bench. They basically dumped him on the Rox with this deal. He's not a 4 but a backup 5 which means they'll carry 3 centers(?) if he sticks. I happen to think it's a good to great chance that Scola's coming over to play for the Rox.
Interesting article posted 3 weeks ago. http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/06/24/luis-scola-spain-over-san-antonio/ ----- Luis Scola Might Choose Spain Over San Antonio Argentine power forward Luis Scola was a gentleman many expected to debut in the NBA next fall. The prognosis has, unfortunately, become more bleak. The Spurs drafted Scola in 2002, but a prohibitive buyout for his Spanish squad Tau Ceramica (as well as no particularly strong need at power forward in SA) kept Luis abroad. Scola's buyout is now cheap (relatively speaking), and Scola has talked often about wanting to prove himself in the League. His agent recently went so far as to ask the Spurs to trade Scola's rights if they weren't interested in bringing him to San Antonio. That statement and similar rumblings led many to believe the Spurs would trade Scola's rights in order to move up in the draft. DraftExpress has a splash of cold water for us domestic Scola fans: Teams thinking about trading a draft pick on Wednesday for Luis Scola should know that he is mulling over a 5-year contract offer for a ridiculous sum of 10 million Euros. After calculating taxes and the exchange rate, we figure Scola will be essentially signing a deal for the mid-level exception if he indeed decides to take it. [...] Scola reportedly loves playing in Spain and is a long-shot to ever make it over to the NBA. The fallout if the report is true comes two-ply: Teams in need of a top-flight power forward in his prime need to look elsewhere, and San Antonio has an essentially worthless asset. --- This is a cost cutting move for the Spurs which allows them to bring in Ian Mahinmi from Europe. They obviously feel he is a much better prospect than Scola, and you can't argue with their scouts. But this was a solid move by Morey, And signing Scola will require using our MLE, just like we used part of our MLE to sign Spanoulis.
Ha Ha DD still wants to see Span play in the NBA even if it is with our arch rival. DD its time to scrap the VSpan bandwagon.
I'm sad about VSpan. I think what the Spurs are going to do is come to an agreement with him to let him out of his contract, but they are going to negotiate the rights to him with his agent if he ever decides to come back to the NBA. I bet they don't let him out of his contract without him and his agent obligating him to the Spurs if he ever tries the NBA again. That could really bite if he develops and decides to come back over here and make a run with them. Oh well, I'm a Rockets fan first. My new favorite supporting player is now AARON BROOKS! He's gonna blow up this year.
There was just a thread that was locked on this topic...geeez doesn't anybody read locked threads anymore?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4943775.html ^from the article that said spanoulis wouldnt be coming back.. ironic.
The sure sign that this is a great deal is that it's taking GATER this long to come up with a reason why he doesn't like deal. Pretty impressive move for a stats guy.
I have to agree with Blatz. Morey doesn't make this trade unless he gets some assurances that Scola will play in Houston next season. To do so would be the new textbook definition of dumb.
I am excited about this...the Rockets look like they will have a nice mixture of players on the roster. The scouting reports on Scola are pretty glowing. Butler is also pretty promising, too. From the Spurs point of view, the cap reasons are pretty compelling. I am glad Lindsey went over there...he worked out a little magic for us!
Scola attacked and scored a bunch of points on Elton Brand in an international tournament.I think it was the World Championships a few years ago.
I wonder if Les will pay the luxury tax in order to sign Scola and keep Hayes around. Chuck is still very important given that the rest of the PFs on the roster really haven't played NBA minutes yet.
